Table Of ContentCourtney Cole 1
With My Last Breath, Book Three
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WITH MY LAST BREATH
Book Three of The Bloodstone Saga
By
Courtney Cole
Copyright © 2011 Lakehouse Press
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this novel are products of the
author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons (living or
dead) is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of these authors or publisher.
No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the
authors or publisher.
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With My Last Breath, Book Three
CHAPTER ONE
I was floating in a dark place, a place where I was all alone and the blackness
was consuming. It filled me up and I drifted on it as it ebbed and flowed
peacefully all around me, the warmth calming me with soothing fluidity. Until
cackling, bitter laughter abruptly pulled me from the lovely darkness, reminding
me of what had caused me to lose consciousness in the first place.
Moros.
The sound of the ancient woman snapped me back to reality as quick as a bolt of
lightning. A brief image of my soul mate, Cadmus, with Moros’ deadly sister
Thanatos ricocheted through my mind, accompanied by an ever-widening ripple
of panic and a stuttering heart beat. He was in danger.
I emerged from my imaginary tranquil pool as my eyes popped open. Staring
into Moros’ faded eyes, I watched for a split second as crimson blood ran in
rivulets from the corner of her eye and streaked down her wrinkled cheek,
dripping onto her black cloak. I shuddered. Her eyes continually bled from all of
the horror that she had seen, all of the pain that she had inflicted as an enforcer
of the Fates throughout the millennia.
It had turned her into a monster.
‚What have you done?' I hissed as I sprang to my feet and shot out of my
bedchambers like a rocket.
Cadmus was my only focus as I charged down the cascading marble staircase of
Zeus’ palace in a blinding streak of motion. We had just gone to hell and back as
the Fates and their sisters, the Keres, had imprisoned all of the gods and
goddesses of Olympus and the surrounding Spiritlands. They had entranced my
husband, Cadmus, in the process and I had only just gotten him back. This
couldn’t be happening.
I barely noticed the banquet attendees who were laughing and sipping Olympian
nectar and dancing carefree around the twinkling, lantern-adorned courtyard as I
pushed through them to plunge into the sweetly scented dark night outside.
My mother, Aphrodite, froze in place when she saw me, apprehension
immediately pooling in her eyes. She grabbed my father’s arm and Ares turned
toward me as well, his chiseled face instantly wary.
‚Harmonia, what is it?' Aphrodite quickly asked, anxiety etched on her perfect
face. She knew from simply looking at me that something was horribly wrong.
She almost knew me better than I knew myself.
It was impossible to answer her because I couldn’t even breathe as I scanned the
perimeter of the crowd to locate the exact place where Cadmus had been
standing just a few minutes earlier. His tall frame was gone.
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With My Last Breath, Book Three
He and Annen, an ancient Keres priest, had been there just two minutes ago. But
now there was nothing, just the blackness of the Spiritlands night closing in on
us as the stars twinkled overhead. I struggled to catch my breath as I frantically
searched through the crowd.
Nothing.
But just as I started to turn away, I caught a glimpse of Olympus residents
congregating in a circle on the edge of the courtyard, murmuring in panic. My
stomach dropped like a lead weight and I innately knew that Cadmus was there
and that something was very, very wrong.
Placing one numb foot after the other, I woodenly approached and the crowd
parted to allow me to pass. Stunned faces stared at me from the circle but I paid
them no mind. My gaze was frozen on my soul mate.
Cadmus was lying on his back in the middle of the circle, completely still and
quiet.
The angles from his bronzed face caught the light of nearby lanterns and as
always, his beauty was staggering. His hair was dark and shiny, his muscular
frame lithe and taut.
Normally, he was stronger than almost anyone else I knew, but right now he was
limp against the dew-covered ground.
I dropped to my knees next to him and collapsed onto his chest, feeling as
though I was moving through the haze of a bad dream. My fingertips were numb
as I shook his shoulder.
‚Cadmus! Please, wake up,' I murmured into his neck.
He smelled so good and familiar as my lips grazed his warm skin, but his dark
eyes stayed closed. He didn’t even twitch as I kissed first his cheek, then the side
of his neck.
And in sudden horror, I realized something. No pulse beat beneath my lips.
Frantically, I ran my fingers along his neck and then his wrist, but it was futile.
There was nothing there to feel. His heart, so brave and strong, had stopped
beating.
I screamed into the night, ripping it apart with my agony as I collapsed once
again onto his hard body, clutching him to me as I cried. His handsome face was
slack and peaceful and completely unresponsive to my pain. He had been my
soul mate for thousands of years, but he was gone from me now. The pain was
unbearable and I couldn’t even think.
Cool hands grasped my shoulders and tried to pull me away from Cadmus, but I
wouldn’t have it. I was going nowhere. I clutched his shoulders, breathing him
in. I was determined to stay with my husband no matter what. They would have
to pry me away.
And then someone did.
Ares pulled me into his strong arms and I clung to him limply as I cried. It didn’t
seem possible that everything had changed so drastically in the blink of an eye
and this unexpected sorrow was debilitating.
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With My Last Breath, Book Three
‚Harmonia.'
A voice creaked from the darkness and my sobs froze in my throat as I pulled
away from my father and whirled around. Moros’ sister stood close by, flanked
by the old Keres priest, Annen.
Thanatos. Her name meant death. And while it was true that she could not
literally kill an immortal, because only Zeus’ lost sword could wield that power,
she could drain the life from one, leaving him or her lifeless for all of eternity.
Which is exactly what she had done to Cadmus.
Before Ares could react, I flew directly at Thanatos’ face, scratching and flailing
my arms at her. She didn’t even try to fend me off. She simply stood, allowing
me to pummel her as I screamed. Her bones felt thin and hollow beneath my
fists, but her frailty didn’t deter me. I wanted her to feel my pain.
‚Why?' I screeched, as my left hand connected with the rim of her eye. ‚Why
him?
He never did a thing to you!'
Her blood, seeping from her cloudy eyes, was smeared all over my arms and my
long evening shift, but it was of no consequence to me. Nothing mattered
anymore but hearing her explanation. My eyes were frozen on her ancient face.
‚Why?' I demanded again. But she remained frustratingly silent.
‚You know why.'
The answer came from behind me. I spun to find Moros standing on the edge of
the circle, her face a calm mask of perfunctory necessity. Rage exploded within
me and I tried to throw myself at her as well, but Ares smoothly caught me,
stroking my hair as he held me still.
‚Calm yourself, daughter,' he murmured into my ear. ‚It won’t bring him back.'
As he leveled his black gaze at Moros, his voice turned into malicious steel.
‚Why have you done this?' he gestured toward my crumpled soul mate and my
heart broke into pieces. From behind Ares’ thick arm, I glared at Moros with all
of the ice I could muster from my frozen heart.
‚Why?' she sounded surprised. ‚Harmonia knows why. I told her a moment ago.
According to the prophecy, she will experience a great loss before she seeks
Zeus’
sword. I have just given her that great loss.'
I shrieked again and flailed helplessly against my father as he held me as easily
as a rag doll. My mother, however, was not restrained and blurred into motion,
instantly standing in front of the old Keres.
‚How dare you?' she demanded, with more malice than I had ever heard coming
from her lips as her chestnut hair fluttered in the night breeze. Her face, which
was perfect in its beauty, was contorted in barely contained rage. ‚The prophecy
does not say that it should be you that brings Harmonia a great loss.
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‚Do you think that you can meddle with the gods so easily and there will be no
consequences? Do you think that Harmonia will find the sword and simply hand
it over to you so that you can reign over Olympus, bringing tragedy and sadness
to us all?
I think not, you ancient hag.'
Aphrodite’s anger was so great that it fueled the nearby torches and they
exploded into the night sky, orange sparks spitting onto the thick damp grass
before dying quietly in the dew.
But Moros did not shirk away. She stood hunched as she always did, meeting
Aphrodite’s unflinching gaze with eyes that were so faded that they seemed
strangely opaque. The blood that fell from the corners made her seem that much
more grotesque.
It dripped down her creased cheeks, running down her arms and streaming into a
puddle to the ground around her feet.
She watched Aphrodite silently, something that infuriated my mother even more.
Aphrodite lunged at her, grabbing her by the front of her long cloak and hurling
the old woman forcefully against a nearby blooming Lotus tree. The Keres
collided into the massive trunk and on impact, the brilliant blue Lotus blossoms
shriveled and died, falling to the ground in dried black petals.
Moros lay crumpled at the base of the tree, curled into a heap, but her stare was
still firm and focused with laser precision on my mother.
‚The prophecy is specific,' she stated simply, her voice thin and fragile.
‚Harmonia will suffer a great loss before she finds the sword. It will benefit all
of Olympus when she finds it.'
‚Especially you?' Aphrodite pressed stubbornly. ‚You feel that you will benefit as
you step into your sisters’ shoes? Now that we’ve imprisoned the Fates you think
to take their place as the usurping rulers of the Spiritlands in Zeus’ absence?' She
was so furious that her arms shook and her cheeks flushed in red streaks.
‚Aphrodite,' Ares interrupted, handing me to my sister Ortrera as he stepped
carefully toward my mother. ‚Be still.'
She turned to him in surprise and agitation.
‚Be still? You mean… be silent?' Her voice raised an octave. ‚How dare you?
This pathetic heap has rendered your daughter’s husband lifeless and you stand
idly by and tell me to be silent? This… coming from the god of war? Ppft.'
She turned up her nose but gasped as Ares’ sword sliced the air directly next to
her ear. She whirled, only to find that the sword had impaled one of the many
children of the Gorgons.
With the body of a snake and a human head, the creatures were scary enough,
but coupled with their ability to turn anyone to stone with their stares, the
Gorgons were simply terrifying. This one had wound its way silently from the
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With My Last Breath, Book Three
Aphrodite’s head and had been preparing to dangle in front of her, forcing her to
meet its deadly gaze. But luckily for her, Ares had seen it first.
As the lifeless Gorgon hung limply from the tree trunk, impaled by Ares’ sword,
Aphrodite gasped again, staring at the bloody half-reptile. She took a shaking
step toward Ares, but she was too slow.
In a blur of motion, he was already standing next to the wounded Keres. Staring
down at Moros, his voice boomed like thunder.
‚You thought to turn my beloved to stone?'
His voice was as dark as a hurricane and I flinched from the threat that it
contained.
He lifted a muscled leg and smashed his heavy foot into the old Keres’ chest.
Her frail bones crunched and I watched her deflate as she wilted into the ground,
her ribcage shattered. Her vague moans didn’t move me at all. She deserved all
of this and more.
Her ragged pants faded into the backdrop of the night as against my will, my
gaze sought out my lifeless husband once more.
He lay perfectly still, his beauty unbearable, even in eternal sleep. I collapsed to
the ground and scrambled to his side. Curling into him, I held his hand and wept.
His limp hand was still warm and I wondered how long it would take before his
strong body cooled.
I had never actually seen an immortal rendered lifeless before. I had no way of
knowing what to expect. Would he remain just as he was now? Warm and
vibrant? I traced the outline of his hand, weaving my fingers through his long
ones, wrapping his limp arm around my body.
If I didn’t find Zeus’ sword, he would remain as this… a lifeless shell of the man
that he was. Only the sword could bring him back to me and Zeus could have
hidden it anywhere in the world.
The crowd around me was hushed as they waited for me to move. But I didn’t. I
lay motionlessly with my husband for longer than I knew. As I inhaled his
familiar scent, curled into his warm side, I pretended that nothing was wrong…
that we were simply laying together as we would any other time. Time passed
impotently by. It didn’t affect us anymore. We were immortal.
Finally, Aphrodite knelt at my side, her voice gentle.
‚Sweetling, let us move Cadmus into the palace. We’ll post guards with him.
He’ll be safe there while we begin our quest for the sword.'
‚What about the hags?' I whispered, my eyes flitting to the Keres.
Moros was still crumpled on the ground. She hadn’t healed yet from her wounds.
Each ragged breath she took rasped in her throat and I took joy in that fact.
Thanatos hovered near her sister. Her face was unconcerned. She knew her sister
would heal quickly. All immortals did. She also knew that she had nothing to
fear from us. Only Zeus’ sword could truly kill them, just as any other immortal.
I swallowed hard.
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‚Well?' I prompted. ‚What of the Keres?'
‚You know that you hold no power over us,' Thanatos uttered. ‚You cannot do a
thing.' She turned to my father and pointed a gnarled finger. ‚Count yourself
lucky.
There will be no retribution today, war god. But you will not be so lucky next
time.'
Ares glared at her and took one menacing step, but before he could take another,
Thanatos, Moros and Annen were all gone. I glanced around but they were
nowhere to be found.
I closed my eyes against the murmuring crowd. I could hear that they were
unsettled and afraid, but I couldn’t concentrate on that. All I could focus on was
my husband’s lifeless hand in my lap. I stroked his thumb in the same way that
he usually stroked mine.
